Headwind's Journal: Sovaldi, Olysio and Ribavarin

wonderful!!

One item that is noteworthy; I was treatment naïve before beginning the above described program which has a 12 week duration.

5/30/2013 First blood work after testing positive for the Hep C antibody.
AST 80
ALT 153
Viral Load >2,000,000
Bilirubin 0.4
Neutrophils 6.1
Lymphs 2.1

7/8/2013 After taking an OTC supplement that in of itself is another thread plus extreme clean living
AST 28
ALT 52
Viral Load 467,700
Neutrophils 6.5
Bilirubin 0.4
Neutrophils 6.5
Lymphs 2.5

9/16/2013 Changed to holistic doctor's approach immediately after previous blood work. After these blood results I told the doc thanks for nothing.
AST 80
ALT Not Tested
Viral Load 7,063,740
Bilirubin Not Tested
Neutrophils 6.4
Lymphs 2.7

12/26/2013 Back on the supplement immediately after previous blood results. These results are my baseline for the current program.
AST 77
ALT 75
Viral Load 2,346,510
Bilirubin 0.4
Neutrophils 4.9
Lymphs 2.5

1/17/2014 After two weeks of current program.
AST 14
ALT 17
Viral Load 75,000
Bilirubin 1.0
Neutrophils 8.3
Lymphs 4

Symptoms are tolerable but fatigue is an issue and sensitivity to the sun is pronounced (Olysio). Another blood sample was collected after two weeks of current program and I will post those results when available.

Ooops, meant to say another blood sample was collected after four weeks of the treatment program.

My limited knowledge of the Q80K polymorphism is that it impairs the efficacy of Olysio(Simeprevir) which is a NS3/4A protease inhibitor. Interestingly, no Q80K related reductions in efficacy were observed in trials of currently approved NS3/4A protease inhibitors, such as, telaprevir and boceprevir. Sovaldi is a nucleotide analog inhibitor.

Johnson & Johnson performed an analysis pooling subjects from various trials, and found 48 percent of U.S. patients with a HCV genotype 1a had the Q80K polymorphism at baseline, compared to only 19 percent of patients in Europe. The mutation is almost nonexistent in those with a genotype 1b infection.

I apologize if this has been hashed out in other threads but I will attribute it to the fact that I am a forum newbie.

Headwind

This is fantastic news!

Mike is waiting for insurance approval for sovaldi and olysio without ribavirin.

His docs did not check for the mutation status as the sovaldi should work regardless.

He had and failed riba inf treatment in 2003 and became very I'll. His viral load was 2m before treatment and over 7m at the end.

His viral load varies. Just now is a bit over 2m.

Please post often as we are desperate for realtime information..we are thrilled at your quick change in your v l.

Congrats!!!

Keep updating!! This is wonderful news!!

Sandia

I will never grow tired of hearing this, I don't believe :) Big congrats!

Headwind said...
Just got the blood work in after 4 weeks of treatment...HCV not detected. I have completed 6 weeks of treatment and the only noticeable side effects are fatigue and sensitivity to sun light.

Rock & Roll!! Thats great news Headwind and so glad to hear that! Keep us updated as usual...this is fricken fantastic news for all those Hepatitis C sufferers with Genotype 1a.

Within a year I suspect the History Channel will have documentaries about Hepatitis C being eradicated like they have shows for Polio...this is amazing news! Personally I have Genotype 2 but it makes me smile ear to ear to hear your Genotype 1 is not being detected after such a short period, it's just unbelievable and gives alot of hope to all the others with Genotype 1.

Best wishes Headwind and thanks for the great news!

Another WOO HOO, HW. Your LFTs were amazing!!!!!

We looked at Sports Authority today for long sleeved t shirts or UV shirts for Mike who wil be on the Olysio and are taking your advice about sun exposure. We live in Florida...the sunshine state...so he better be prepared.

We found an ad for lightweight sungloves...do you think we need to go that far?

Best,
ML

Here is where I bought my shirts. I liked the price, too. Light weight and has the "dry" feature. I am also using the Neutrogena Age Shield face oil free lotion SPF 110. I use on my face and hands and this has worked fine. I live in Texas so the sunlight is comparable to Florida.

http://www.jiffyshirts.com/champion-CW26.html

27 days to go. Symptoms have been mild and very manageable. Fatigue, sensitivity to the sun and 2 out of 63 days with light nausea.

Went to the Hepatologist today. They did not collect a blood sample said it would be an unnecessary expense. I was undetectable at week four and would be undetectable at the end of week 8.

He said everything looked on track and will see him again on April 1. I made sure I thanked him, the other doctors and the department chairperson for quickly adopting this off label treatment program. He did mention that new drugs are on the short term horizon with greater efficacy rates. I assume he was referring to Ledipasvir.

Hi Headwind,
What have your viral load results been?